Beauty: All a blur

Relevant offers

Beauty companies are very good at selling us products that promise to hide our lines and wrinkles.

Moisturisers that plump the skin; serums with advanced ingredients to "tell" unhealthy cells to behave better; stem-cell creams to help repair and protect.

The thing about good skincare is that it needs time to work. No one really expects instant miracles; sun damage can be reversed, pigmentation minimised, and lines lessened over months, not minutes.

So if someone tells me a product can disguise wrinkles as quickly as it takes to apply it, I'm unconvinced.

And while, like anyone, I was initially wooed by the promise of seeing myself "through a soft-focus lens", I approached the new blurring creams with some scepticism.

The premise of blur creams is that they rely on optical diffusing particles to scatter light and trick your eyes into making skin look fresher, more even and less lined.

The idea of using high-tech particles to blur out imperfections isn't new, but the ingredients in blur creams are nano-sized, which is supposed to make them even more effective.

They also boast added skincare benefits, which work over the longer term to improve the condition of the skin and keep it behaving healthily.

Nanoblur, $39.99 (from Farmers) was the first of its kind to arrive when it was launched in the US last year. Now wehave Lancome's Visionnaire 1-Minute Blur, $85, and last month L'Oreal Paris launched Revitalift Magic Blur, $29.99.

Kiehl's has Micro-Blur Skin Protector, Garnier is set to release its own 5 Second Perfect Blur in June and I'm sure it won't be long before we see more brands jumping on the blur bandwagon.

My experience of blur products has been good.

I like their silicone-y texture and the way that creates a smooth canvas for my foundation. Essentially, they are like high-end primers; "filling" fine lines around the eyes and mouth and ironing them out. And they definitely work.

But what distinguishes them from primers (apart from the size of their particles) is that they can be applied before makeup, instead of it, or even over the top.

High-tech beauty trickery? Definitely.

But if they're good for our skin and trick our eyes into only seeing the best bits, then that's what I'd call beauty with benefits.